Reflections on Liberty Square: Part II
June 2009
Late this past year, when it appeared that Choice would shortly be moving to its new offices at Liberty Square, I wrote an editorial entitled “Reflections from Liberty Square,” which appeared in the December 2008 issue of Choice. Alas, this proved premature, as our move, originally scheduled for mid-November, was delayed by unanticipated, closing-related issues. And so, just a tad embarrassed and armed with the wisdom of hindsight, I resolved to take no chances next time around. There would, I determined, be no more premature writing about Liberty Square, and there has not been.
But there’s good news today, dear reader, for Choice’s move to Liberty Square is a done deal. On Friday, March 20, 2009, Choice bid a final farewell to Suite 298 at 100 Riverview Center, its home for more than 42 years. The following Monday, March 23, Choice staff reported to work for the first time at Choice’s new office condominium on the top floor of Liberty Square, a new, three-story commercial office and retail building located at 575 Main Street in downtown Middletown’s historic North End.
There is quite a bit more to be said about Liberty Square, and Choice’s history here in Middletown. You’ll find a great deal of it in “Choice in Middletown … A Long Tradition” on pages 1827-31, which features an interview with Richard Gardner, the founding editor of Choice, and an epilogue by yours truly.
It is unfortunate, and a bit sobering, that Choice’s move to Liberty Square has taken place amid one of the more severe economic downturns in modern history. That certainly wasn’t the plan. Rather, it’s an example of what can happen to projects with long lead times. The purchase of Suite 300 at Liberty Square did not take place overnight. On the contrary, as described in “Choice in Middletown,” it was the result of a lengthy and at times frustrating search process that began a bit more than five years to the day before the actual move. Little did those of us who sat around the table at ALA headquarters in March 2004 discussing the possibility of Choice’s purchasing office space realize we were embarking on a five-year mission, one that would conclude amid a major recession.
But if we failed to predict the future of the global economy, we at least had a firm grasp of our ultimate goal—providing Choice with newer and better office space. And that objective, I’m happy to report, has been fully met. Liberty Square is rapidly proving to be everything that we had hoped. More and better space and, with a little luck, ALA’s first “green” building. And for the first time, Choice has an actual conference room, a facility we plan to use extensively.
And so, as I noted in December, “after 42 years at Riverview Center, Choice has a new home. Choice’s arrival in Middletown may have been a bit of an accident. It could have ended up on virtually any college campus in the Northeast, but Middletown is where Choice began, and where, with a little luck, it will continue. That’s our story, dear reader, and we’re sticking to it.”—IER
|
